


metamorphosis

by FancifulRivers



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Shapeshifting, Spoilers for Episode: s05e18 A Single Pale Rose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 07:15:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15043574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FancifulRivers/pseuds/FancifulRivers
Summary: Pearl has a secret. (Doesn't she always?)





	metamorphosis

Despite knowing that she is the only one in the Temple- that Steven is safely abed in Greg's van, that Garnet has taken Amethyst out on a mission and they are not going to be back at least until morning- Pearl still feels a pulse of anxiety low in her stomach as she prepares. It is in her room, as it always is. Her room is her one sanctuary. The one place in the world she can go to be herself, to soothe herself with the delicate columns of water and the pools that contain all of her possessions. When Amethyst and Garnet are in residence, she confines herself to re-arranging her weaponry or practicising her ballet. It is a soothing rhythm in and of itself, balancing on the tips of her toes and pirouetting with all the grace of a long-cherished pearl. (She will never admit it, but she holds a secret, quiet pride in still being  _able_ to perform those duties, to dance and sing and serve).

But this is all for her.

With a flick of her wrist, she lets her spears bar the entries to her room. It is overly cautious, perhaps, but Pearl doesn't care. She has no desire to let Amethyst or Garnet (or Diamond forbid,  _Steven_ someday) see what she is capable of. The others know that she doesn't shapeshift. Amethyst presumes that she can't, not easily anyway. To Amethyst, shapeshifting comes as naturally as breathing. There isn't a day that goes by that Pearl doesn't see a purple something-or-other that shouldn't be.

Garnet knows that she can, but assumes something has happened. Whether Garnet thinks it is a defect in her gem or war memories, Pearl isn't sure, and she's certainly not going to bring the subject up unprompted.

But here- in the sanctity of her Temple room- Pearl closes her eyes and allows herself to  _change_.

It's simple at first. A pearl-colored Amethyst. An un-visored Garnet. It is odd, seeing through three eyes, and she changes quickly to a Morganite she vaguely recalls from eons ago. A human she saw the other day, when helping Greg get groceries for Steven. She still doesn't understand food, or why humans loved it so much, but she knows that Steven needs it to live.

One of the dogs that Amethyst likes to emulate so much. Her shifting flows faster and faster, from one form to the next with scarcely a breath in between. A heron, balancing on one stick-thin leg. A short giraffe, gangly on knock-kneed legs.

Blue Diamond's Pearl, shy and hidden beneath a curtain of hair. A Lapis Lazuli, skirt flowing around her legs. Yellow Diamond's Pearl, snippy and officious, lips spread in the pearl's customary smirk. After all these years, Pearl still remembers it. Another pearl, poofy shoulders and poofy skirt that she always had trouble controlling. These are easier and simultaneously harder. Pearl after pearl, feeling her limbs similar yet so strange. Her sisters.

Rose Quartz. She conjures a full-length mirror from her gem for this, setting it into the water with a gentle splashing sound. It looks wrong, it always has. When she looks up, her gem is bright and pulsing on her forehead and her eyes are full of tears. A mistake. This form is always a mistake and yet she is drawn to it every time, like an Earth moth to the porch light Garnet insisted they let Greg hook up.

Her eyes close. One last. It is what she always completes the routine with, no matter how hard it hurts. She cannot make it life-sized. Her gem is not strong enough for that (and she is privately relieved). Her form flows upward and out.

When Pearl opens her eyes, Pink Diamond's face meets her in the mirror.


End file.
